Event Report: Connecting Sister Shredders - Cumberland, BC

High pitched shrieks of delight, hollers of joy and yahoos of encouragement could be heard bursting from Village Park in Cumberland on a sunny Saturday in June. Twenty young girls gathered along with a few female teen mentors and adult coaches for one awesome, stoke-filled mountain bike event; Connecting Sister Shredders, the brain-child of Emmy Lan.

17 year old Emmy, Commencal Canada athlete and Ride Like A Girl ambassador, hailing from the Comox Valley, Vancouver Island BC, is no stranger to mountain biking. After many years of riding and racing BC’s amazing MTB terrain, Emmy is now making the leap to the world stage to compete in both DH World Cup events and EWS races taking place in Europe this summer. But before she harrowingly stacks herself up against the world’s best and amidst a hectic schedule of training, school and work Emmy wanted to find a way to give back to the community that has supported her while also passing on her passion for riding.


Having experienced it herself, Emmy recognizes that sometimes it isn’t easy to feel supported as a young girl getting into mountain biking. The sport itself can often appear overwhelmingly daunting and this is amplified when your only opportunities to ride are absent of any other girls. And so Connecting Sister Shredders was born. This one day event targeted girls age 9-12, of any riding ability with any amount of riding experience as an opportunity to meet other local girls who want to ride. Certain there were loads of young, rad, unconnected girls out there Emmy wanted to provide an opportunity to bring these girls together in one awesome fun-filled, supportive event.


In the morning the girls were led through a series of skills stations; developing proficiency and building confidence while practicing MTB skills like cornering, straight-line riding, descending and wheel lifts. As the logs got bigger that the girls were practicing wheel lifts over and the teeter-totters got larger, so did the girls smiles!


In the afternoon they took to the trails. Blessed with seemingly endless miles of amazing single track in the Cumberland forest that leads directly out from Village Park, suitable for every level of rider the girls put their newly found skills and confidence into action.


You can’t help but feel that all is right in the world witnessing three 10 year old girls competently working together trailside to confidently and efficiently deal with a bike mechanical.

Throughout the day there were also lots of opportunities for the girls to chat, giggle, high-five, form friendships and find riding buddies. Everything is better with buddies and riding bikes is no different.


In an effort to build the stoke and keep the girls connected in the community Emmy highlighted local MTB opportunities available to the girls including bike shop youth team groups, youth coaching programs and awesome organizations like Ride Like A Girl that match girls with female mentors. ridelikeagirl.ca


To remove any financial barriers from participation and make Connecting Sister Shredders a free event, Emmy applied for and was awarded a Rising Youth grant. In addition, the amazing community stepped up to support. Commencal Canada also played a big role in supporting the Connecting Sister Shredders event by setting up a massive sweet shade tent complete with chillin' lounge chairs, games and swag for the girls to take a break while swapping tales of their epic bike accomplishments with new found friends. The girls were fuelled with delicious burritos by Cumberland local yummery Bibliotaco and were thrilled to all receive prizes from local community-focused bike shop Trail Bicycles.

Huge props to these rad businesses supporting MTB events, hosted by youth, for youth. trailbicycles.ca bibliotaco.com commencalcanada.com


Registration for Connecting Sister Shredders was full almost immediately with a long waitlist reinforcing what Emmy already knew; girls wanna ride and if you build it they will come. Emmy is hoping to do another free Connecting Sister Shredders event in the fall, where she can share her stories from her first World Cup and EWS race experience and continue to build the stoke of mountain biking amongst girls. The future is bright!


Follow along on Emmy's journey on Instagram: @emmy.bikes

Posted In:
Racing and Events PBWMN